The Drumming Of “Nevermind” | Nirvana Album Breakdown
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- čas přidán 26. 06. 2024
- Nirvana’s "Nevermind" is one of the biggest records of the ’90s. It’s the defining album of the grunge era. And it’s considered one of the greatest albums of all time with over 30 million units sold.
"Nevermind" introduced the world to Dave Grohl, once a target of criticism from drum magazines but later acknowledged as the creator of some of the most celebrated drum parts in recent history.
In this video, we dive into the best sections from every song on the album. You’ll also get insider tidbits about working with producer Butch Vig and what Kurt Cobain was like behind the scenes during the making of the record.
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Chapters
00:00 - Intro
00:34 - The Legacy Of "Nevermind"
01:10 - Lesson Overview
01:27 - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
02:38 - "In Bloom"
05:50 - "Come As You Are"
06:44 - "Breed"
07:46 - "Lithium"
08:49 - "Polly"
09:33 - "Territorial Pissings"
10:33 - "Drain You"
11:23 - "Lounge Act"
12:22 - "Stay Away"
13:27 - "On A Plain"
14:35 - "Something In The Way"
15:42 - "Endless, Nameless"
17:17 - Wrap-up
17:24 - Outro
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i swear if you listen to the isolated drum track for in bloom, the intro flam section...the first tom flam isnt done solely on the high tom, but between high tom and floor tom!
Tool
Is there any possible way you could get Domino Santantonio to do Code of Silence by Grip Inc on the drums like you did with Slipknot? I have been trying to find a drummer to cover this as a challenge for years and yet to find one. At the very least listen to Dave Lombardo play that song its got this drum roll that is off the chain. Thanks for any response.
David hated Kurt Cobain and then he wrote composed and preformed His own album shortly after Cobain's demise...he then became the lead singer and guitarist....(?!)... Dave helped k I l l Kurt.
Nobody talks about how Dave pushes the beat and then backs off so perfectly. Swing, feel, whatever you wanna call it. He is great at it.
Exactly. He’s essentially playing SLTS wrong
Rick Beato does 🤘🏻
This!
I try to talk about it, but I never know quite how to describe it beyond saying that he’s got the Bonham swagger, which literally only a couple of other drummers I can think of have. Matt Cameron and maybe Jimmy Chamberlain are the only two I can really think of who have that half swing, half straight time feel.
Exactly, for about 3 minutes 50 seconds in this video he puts emphasis on Dave's kick drum "What Makes This Song Great? Ep.90 Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
You realize Dave is truly special when other skilled drummers (like this guy) play his parts and it’s just not the same…
Thank you. I feel the same way. It's just not the same.
Exactly. Nowhere near the same. I heard a story about some band recording with Steve Albini(who recorded In Utero) the drummer asked if he could make the drums a bit louder. Steve’s answer: just hit the drums harder.
Haha, and that’s one of the many great things about Dave Grohl.
@@caprise-music6722hahahhaa I didn't know that story! Thanks for sharing it
I'm glad to see you mention Chad Channing several times. His contributions to Nirvana should not be overlooked especially on the Nevermind album.
Dave has given Chad credit numerous times which is awesome.
Chad channing is a true gentleman as well if you talk to him in real life and is philosophical about his being fired. He makes a comfortable living just from the royalities he receives still
@@pepec52really! That warms my heart, save for one wench that was the wrench in the machine they really had a family level tenderness with each other in their own ways. So happy to hear Chad got to be a part of the rrhof inductions, he deserved it.
But the way, this guy nails this song note for note except for one little bass drum in smells like teen spirit... Which I never picked up until Dave grohl himself mentioned in in an interview (wish I could remember what vid), if the last bar of the prechorus going into the main chorus could be summed up to
DaGaDaGaDaGaDaGaDaGaDoGooDat
Doo do dat da do ga do goo dat do
Doo do dat da do ga do goo dat do
Doo do dat da do ga do goo dat do
Doo do dat da do ga do goo dat do
Dave points out that the very first bass drum of that 'figure' is ever so slightly delayed, and it just gives that a seismic -its raining elephants- feeling. So something like
DaGaDaGaDaGaDaGaDaGaDoGooDat
-Doo do dat da do ga do goo dat do
-Doo do dat da do ga do goo dat do
-Doo do dat da do ga do goo dat do
-Doo do dat da do ga do goo dat do
I am unsure if he gets back closer to dead on the 1 with that first bass drum when he starts the later half of the chorus where he is riding on the crash. Hopefully if my impromptu attempt at translating my attempt at mimicking drum sounds didn't make total sense, they entertained you and or in some way made you smile.
No discredit to the maker of this video, I literally never noticed until seeing the mentioned interview with Dave grohl. But it's there!
@@pepec52his drumming is only on Polly and taken from in bloom. Everything else is Dave.
It was really fun to hear what Dave could really do when he played with Queens of the Stone Age. Clearly he was much more subdued in Nirvana (as far as fills, etc. He still had the power of course).
Thanks for watching! Any other album breakdowns you want to see?
Would be brilliant to have We Like it Here! The breakdown of what Larnell did during those sessions would be amazing!
@@carloscaiado7320 - ooh good choice.
Abbey Road!
Any album from Tool. You are the man to pull it off Brandon!!
Siamese dream, Matt Chamberlain..
It’s always blown my mind that Grohl has made so many great parts with only 3 rudiments. I’ve only heard him play singles, flams, and in rare cases, hertas. Never even heard the guy play doubles except on the bass drum. Pretty cool imo
I’m almost certain that the the album version of School has double bass in it and then was adapted to be played on the toms by Dave in later years.
Yes, but most of these parts weren't made by Dave. It was Chad. Dave plays it much cleaner though.
@@o0Donuts0oYes - listen to live versions of Blew, Negative Creep, School played by Dave and you'll hear his double bass adaptation on the toms.
@@jebj1 Grohl’s is the better sounding one imo. Those triplets on the toms just give the song the balls it needs.
@@o0Donuts0o Yup, agree 100 percent ! It's almost as if Grohl's rack tom and floor tom are tuned to the same pitch to give them the same flat, "rolling thunder" sound that duplicates double bass. Have you seen the size of Dave's rack tom? It's almost as big as a floor tom! I actually bought an extra floor tom and I use it as a rack tom when I play Nirvana songs on my set. I tune both toms exactly the same and it sounds great! I have a Tama Rockstar Dx. Not as good as the Artstar that Dave used but good enough for me lol !
Man I'm so impressed by your versatility as a drummer. Bringing so many genres to life. Respect.
Thank you!
I could watch Dave play Drain You at Live and Loud all day long. He just hammers every note right from the beginning.
Dave Grohl played in a band called Scream before Nirvana. I sat behind him at Fenders Ballroom in California. He always hit hard and a very good drummer.
This is the first album that I learned the drum parts of each and every one of the songs (or at least tried). Definitely a huge influence on my playing. Great video guys.
Love it
That's great Joa! 🙌
Man I can't believe how much this album has influenced my life! Over 30 years later, and I can't say that I've ever heard another band that holds up like this!
Me too!
Tengo exactamente el mismo sentimiento hacia Nirvana y su Nevermind...
I’d almost gave up on music, & then like: NEVERMIND
There hasn’t been another album like this since it came out. I believe that in terms of sheer enormity and massive influence (inside and outside the music work) there was the Beatles and then there was Nirvana and it’s likely no artist will reach that level ever again because of the way music and modern culture have developed.
I remember when Nevermind came out. The first 5 songs on the record were all in heavy rotation on rock radio. Keep in mind Radio was ubiquitous back then. All of a sudden runway models were wearing torn jeans, and everyone (regardless of what type of music you listened to) was wearing flannel. My mom, who couldn’t name a member of any band except…well, the Beatles, had an opinion on Kurt Cobain and I remember my grandfather (a man in his 70s) expressing his opinion of them during Thanksgiving dinner.
Nirvana was bigger than just the biggest band in the world. Kurt was looked upon as the voice of his generation. It had wide reaching implications on the culture at large and absolutely completely shook up the record industry overnight.
Prior to it, bands in spandex with mountains of makeup and Aquanet were shoveling paint by numbers power ballads down the mainstreams throats and image was more important than substance.
With Nevermind, all of that died IMMEDIATELY. It was like people heard it and instantly recognized that this was authentic in a way that nothing else widely available was.
Every independent band in the world got scooped up by major labels and 99.99999% were left to flounder and got dropped when Kurt died. All those great bands…Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, take your pick…none of them could take the mantle and just as fast as it started…it was over.
And we went right back to the contrived, insipid nonsense, this time with Limp Bizkit and Korn were the biggest bands around. But they couldn’t lick the bottom of Nirvana’s shoe in terms of sheer massive cultural impact.
With things like the liner notes to Incesticide, Nirvana made it cool to be a thoughtful, decent human being who was comfortable in their own skin. After he died, the Bros who Kurt called out in those liner notes took over. I’m not so sure they have ever been displaced.
Never heard the Beatles?
cleanest, slickest grunge album imo. i mean it should be dirty sounding, but it's not. loud noise has never been so beautifully polished like this.
That’s the best description I’ve heard, I like it
Butch Vig, man. Anybody who complains that it's too clean to be grunge would've left tens of millions on the table had it not been produced the way it was.
Thanx to andy Wallace who mixed it ..... he’s one the best imo
Kurt didn’t like the slick studio final edit 🧐🧐🧐
Butch killed it, so fkn good.
The very 1st thing that stood out to me when I heard nirvana was Dave's drumming. I had never seen or heard a guy bash drums so hard before. Dude's a legend.
I think Breed may be my favorite song to play from this record. Those crash accents in the chorus are so fun.
It's a mad song
@@hard_top im dead serious rn .. endless nameless is the mad one
@@MadMalikBand I never said anything about who originally wrote the songs, but thanks for the info. Lol
@@MadMalikBand Grohl has credited Chad many times.
@@riiidhoo3824 They'd both be mad songs - endless more so
I'd love to see a "The Drumming Of Appetite For Destruction" episode! A classic album with lots of amazing drum parts and ideas!
No one can replicate that Steven Adler feel
On a Plain, of course. One of Kurt's most ingenious tracks and my favorite from this album.
As biased as it may be, I would love to see this deep dive into In Utero as well! So much strength and variety is in the drums throughout the album
Better yet, Incesticide. That was a truly great, diverse drumming album.
I think Nirvana's Nevermind became and always be no1 in rock music ever! What a masterpiece!
He is why I picked up drumsticks & I haven’t looked back. Thank you Dave.
Breed was my favorite song on the album to play. It's a rocking song and so fun to play on the drums! 👍🤘
Nice choice!
Literally taught myself how to play drums drumming along to this album. The technology you're demonstrating in this video using that program to slow down and single out drum parts is mind blowing to me even today.. you know what technology I had to help me learn these songs? My sisters old ghetto blaster and cassette tape copy of Nevermind that I hooked up to my dad's tv entertainment system and blasted it through that so I could hear the music over my drumming. Stop rewind and do it again lol. I did this every day after school for about 2 hours until my parents got home and told me to turn it off. This was in the late 90s early 00s that I was doing this too. From the muddy banks of the wishkah was their live album that I played along to using the same method but I had that on cd, made rewinding so much faster. Dave Grohl and Bill Ward were my drum instructors.💿📻🥁
Great man! 😁
This is pretty much my story...this album changed my life-came out when I was fifteen...the same year I got my first drum set
@@bpaboyce thats awesome to hear. What else did you drum along too? Crazy how far technology has come. The nirvana Live tonight sold out concert vhs tape I got for my bday was another video I played along to. Only way I could see what Dave looked like behind the drums lol. That and black sabbath Paris 1970 performance my dad gave me used to drum along to that too.
I'm really glad Chad is actually getting recognition for once. It may be minor, but most videos I've seen act as if he never existed and it was all Dave. Yeah, you could argue that Dave played it better and heavier, but we still can't forget about Chads great simplistic pop sense writing that perfectly suited most of the album. Though I do wish Dale Crover could at least get some as well. He wrote most of the parts for Drain You during a jam session while Dave just joined for those that don't know
kurt was a drummer, he was probably dictating everyone what to play
Being the 110% standup guy that he is, Dave is the first to give Chad a ton of credit whenever possible
Holy shit guys, genius move showing what your page can do. I have a drum teacher and have been playing for over a year now, but I think I might fork over some cash in your direction to learn that whole fucking album! I mean, at 37 years old, Dave was THE inspiration for me to start learning the drums. I have a Nirvana Tattoo for years, every album... I basically have to do this now :D
Glad you enjoyed this one!👊🏻
@@BrandonToews Your guys and what you put out on your channel for free is insane! I love it! Already bought the 30 day drummer course back in september last year. I really hope you do something like an davanced course with Domino - she was a fantastic teacher and a lot of fun. Liek i said, I'll definitely have to get a subscribtion to your website for Nevermind. Maybe you could do "In Utero" too? :) That is my favourite Nirvana album to date.
Amazing! It's never too late to learn more!
@@Clumpfy - Love it! "In Utero" would be a great one to cover, too :).
your snare and the whole kit sound so nice.
a good old Tama Imperialstar, nice to hear this vintage snare...
Thanks!
🙏
Come As You Are was one of the first songs I ever learned on drums. For that reason, it’s a very special song to me and a favorite off of Nevermind. That whole album inspired me to play music which is why Nirvana will always be one of my favorite bands.
I remember clear as day the first time I heard the drums to Teen Spirit kick in. My brother had a massive stereo in his pickup truck and that's where I first heard the song. The opening chords hit, then all of a sudden Dave was kicking me in the back.
What is it about Dave that makes him sound so unique. I never hear anybody play those songs, no matter how accurate, sound like Dave. I’ve always thought the sound of Nirvana could only be so unique because of what each member beings to it and Dave is an important 1/4 of that sound. You hear recordings of the other drummers Nirvana had, and they just don’t fill that space the same.
He hits hard as hell and has a push/pull feel that's hard to nail. Definitely tough to sound like Grohl. But I'm more impressed with his writing - restrained, creative, and expressive all at the same time.
When U sell ur soul anything is possible.
He's super solid and tight and hits the hell out of the drums
He’s pretty wild but still precise and perfect timing
According to a Butch Vig interview, he hit the drums so hard, they’d have to retune them after a take.
The drum parts for Drain You were written by Dale Crover of the Melvins
You really prepared all the drum parts very well! I know nailing this can take a lot of work. Especially with all the intricate details...
Simple, but powerful, effective, and very musical drumming.
Nevermind has to be the most air drummed album in history!
Damn. That was fun.
I stopped partway through and listened to some old MP3’s of myself. It made me smile at how much this album from my childhood shaped my drumming.
Love it!
Dave is a musical drummer the parts he creates are memorable, rhythmic, dynamic and explosive. but he also has an amazing grasp on pocket.
Chad deserves more for his part in this album!!!
who cares?
He got song writing credits and royalties.
This was awesome! I appreciated every single second 🙏
We need a lesson on Dave’s drumming on Killing Joke 2003 self-titled album. There are some videos from the studio, but they're short
@Nicholas Time,
Bro, neither had I. I learned too late.
So many great songs on this album, start to finish.
I needed this trying to play the full album this year
Nice!
U got this
Please get Dave on Drumeo - dude seems like he would love being on Drumeo. Even an interview. ANYTHING
The invite is open! Send me his cell number and I'll book him :P
Drumming looks like something that someone needs to be pretty smart and skilled to do properly. Much respect.
I remember Dave saying that he took the intro of 'Teen Spirit' from Disco, and I can't unhear it now. So cool
Absolutely great job on the video! Detailed, factual, spot on! I hear it better now. Also thanks for letting me see drumeo. Can’t wait to check that out.
Awesome!
Drain You's drum part was actually written by Dale Crover from the Melvin's and early Nirvana! on the early demo Dave was playing bass and Dale was on drums
That was on the with the lights out box set 🤘🏾
That's some amazing details, thank you.
Favorite song : Lithium.
Love the whole album.
Dave Grohl is the best drummer alive! Nirvana would’ve been good with somebody else behind the kit, but he’s the reason they were great! He’s an absolute monster.
Thank you, Brandon. This was excellent! And thank you Drumeo team!
The fill he used to do live on teen spirit is one of the coolest fills ever
Might not have been my fav track, but it was the 1st song I learnt on drums: In bloom. That intro is timeless!!! Hail Dave
One of the most iconic drum intros ever
More like Hail Satan,... right Dave
Hail Chad you mean
Forgot how awesome this album was!
Recently started playing drums. Started learning on drumeo, and I've become a huge grohl fan. I can play smells like teen Spirit and in bloom half decently, and I'm learning a couple of foo fighters tracks as well. They're so much fun to play.
Wow it gives me chills, I've played all the drums part of their albums almost 20 years ago and i still remember it in my head 😂. I need to buy a drum kit
I know this album by memory from start to end, but never paid that much attention to the drum part on "on a plain"... Amazing!
My favourite band and album. Great video as always! I ❤ U 🥁eo
what is this sneaker you are wearing?
thanks
Vans!
I was 14 when this came out. I remember seeing the video for Smells Like Teen Spirit on 120 minutes and was blown away. I called anyone that was up (1:30am) to see if they saw what just happened…changed me forever. So, Smell Like Teen Spirit would have to be my favorite track. Love them all but that one was the catalyst 🤘🏽
That’s a great concept guys. Very smart. Will you do advanced stuff in a later stage? Anyway, well done!
I could listen to his bass drum footwork all day.
Great video editing and content guys. Thanks for sharing.
Appreciate it!
AWESOME VIDEO!!!
Thanks Nirvana for those masterpieces!
Love seeing appreciation for them
Haaaa, nostalgia.... The pure joy when I realized that the fills in In Bloom where played with a leading left (that's what you get you play by ear!)
This album it’s what inspire me to learn how to play drums , I have listened thousand’s of times to this record and if you’re really curious about learning how to play drums this album is like a bible.
In a 2013 Spin interview, Grohl once again described his drumming in Nirvana as "disco drums," while adding, "A lot of the drum fills I did I took from Cameo and the Gap Band." (reg. the opening of SLTS)
There's a nice clip of him talking to Pharrell about this. Grohl's superpower is his taste, not his technical ability.
@@ricobarthyes. When he played with Rush after Neil Peart's death that's exactly what he showed. It never sounded precise like Peart but he didnt care, it was great
Love these….awesome breakdowns 👍
This is amazing 🔥🔥
Bravo
Hail to David and Kurt!!!!
Cheers!
Still remember how fun learning that intro fill from Teen Spirit was when I first started drumming. I'm also curious as to what sizes are in your cymbal setup is for this vid, Brandon!
1:59 I’m pretty sure he’s actually playing eighth notes on the hi-hat in the chorus; he’s just accenting the downbeats and ghosting the upbeats.
The timing of this video is perfect
🙏🏻
Hey Brandon, thanks for another awesome video! My favorite track from this album is "In Bloom" 😄🤘
Nice!
Im glad that you mentioned Chad Channig! He and Bleach era are underrated, also Lithium was played by Chad (He even used double bass pedal in few songs)
Not "underrated," completely ignored. Most people think that Nirvana is only Kurt and Dave but Dave himself always mentions Chad, he mentioned him during Nirvana's induction to the R&R Hall of Fame so stop using this word wrong.
@@redacted2275 not gonna say ignored because theres many comments about nevermind era vs bleach era
shout out to the original early fans who bought nirvana demos then bleach then later nevermind. not as many of those fans out there compared to nevermind years, the band was way underground, to anyone outside the geography.
Dave literally just re-recorded in bloom with a few tweeks the drum pattern is literally identical to the 1990 single sub pop release which includes Chad Channing not Dave.
Simple but timeless!
Amazing job, dudes. Ty ❤❤❤
In Bloom was my favorite :>
You guys used it in the outro, too 😍
The illusion that Nirvana’s succes was not expected is, well, is an illusion. They practiced a lot to get the raw sound right. They changed drummers to step up to the next level. When Dave Grohl was approached he already had a manager. The producer they worked with was a top notch producer in those days, and still is. And the publicity campagne behind the album was massive. It is a great band , and the songs are timeless, but it was not an unexpected happening that this band made it big.
They were looking to match Sonic Youth, decently big for the scene and genre, but Sonic Youths biggest commercial successes actually comes from Nirvana. They knew it could be big, just not the biggest band in the world
Thanks for Mentioning Chad Channing! respect.
🙏
Love it! Thanks!
Territorial pissings was my favorite song on this album growing up.
I needed this video 20 yrs ago 🥲
Great analysis!!!!!
They were very critical of Elvin Jones’s drumming back in the day too… now we have books that break his stuff down.
Great video on a great band, drummer, and drum sound. By the way, is that a vintage T- badge Tama snare drum used in this video ?
Cheers ! 👍💪
Awesome! Thank you for the video. Love it! 🔥
You are welcome! Glad to hear!
Even though he didn't really cement his status as one of the GOAT's until Songs for the Deaf was released, there are more than enough reasons to grant him that based on Nirvana alone. In Utero is a landmark album for rock drums, sound and performance / composition wise. But another landmark in pop music is that 4 bar Teen Spirit intro. It still sounds so menacing and arresting. The guitar is iconic in its own right, but that single bar of drums was pure brilliance. Cobain is often (correctly) compared to John Fogerty in that he gets so much out of so little. That's true of Dave as well and that was an absolutely inspired decision from a 22 year old. Don't get me started on In Utero. Sophisticated aggression. Probably his best work as a drummer.
As a fan of Dave, this is a great video. Thank you for it.
By the way, nice t-shirt.
Cheers!
I've bought this three times and wore it out . Still listen to this day
My favourite part of “come as you are” is the part after the chorus where Dave goes ham. Dude is def one of the rockstars ever
Beautiful drumming
No mention of the insanely awesome orchestrated 4-bar chorus groove in "Lithium"?
Would love to see a Drumeo of Dave playing this whole album!
Solid. Thanks!
I’d love for yall to do a video like this on Refused’s The Shape Of Punk To Come. David Sandstrom’s drumming on that is unreal
This is fucking rad, dude. 11/10
Cheers man!
The drums sound perfect on Nevermind
Probably the most covered drum tracks of the last 30 years. So influential.
Thanks a lot man. I love Breed and Territorial P.
Take a look on Dale Crover from Melvins
Dave is probably the best drummer of all time
Hell yes I love nevermind!!!
Man those crash cymbals sound amazing!! Can you please let us know what is the size and model? How much of the sound is the recording of the cymbals - like compression, eq, etc? Thank you!